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Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster
Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster is a horror-comedy that explores the backstory of Billy Lugosi (one of the characters from Forest of Fear). It is based on a never-realized concept from before the founding of Mustache Maniacs Film Co. and is the third film in Project U. Film Details * Release Date: January 16, 2015 * Running Time: 8 min. * MPAA Rating: PG * Director: Andrew Bermudez * Producer: '''Andrew Bermudez * '''Writer: Andrew Bermudez Plot Summary WARNING: This section contains spoilers. If you do not want to find out what happens, skip to the next section. The film opens with Dr. Henrietta William experimenting at the Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis. She is startled by the viewer, but invites them to hear about the story of a former member, Billy Lugosi. The scene flashes back to 1994, when Billy was still working at the institute. As he grabs a vial of substance, Dr. Jim Carew steps into the room with a box. Jim says that he wanted to give the hamster inside to his niece, but it bites and scratches too much. Jim leaves the room and both Billy and Henrietta investigate the box. Henrietta reaches in and the hamster Black Bear grabs onto her hands causing her to scream and throw the hamster out a window. After leaving work, Billy passes Black Bear's corpse and picks it up. He takes it home to his attic lab, where he tries to bring Black Bear back to life. While he succeeds, the experiment causes Black Bear to grow to fifty feet in size and burst out of his house. Black Bear eats a car, then heads into Uptown of LEGO City. Billy follows Black Bear. On a side of the street, two police officers, Walter Parker and Bill Stewart, converse about how nothing happens around town. Almost on cue, a sports car flies past them and lands in the street. Immediately, Black Bear enters the scene and devours everything in its path. civilians flee as Black Bear grabs Walter's police car, causing Bill to try to help his partner. Walter tells Bill to run just before the police car with Walter inside is eaten by Black Bear. Before Black Bear continues his rampage, Nana steps out of her martial arts studio and beats up Black Bear. Just as she takes down the hamster, Billy Lugosi arrives to lament his creation. Just then, police officers and Bradford Rant Institute scientists run up to arrest Billy. Going insane, Billy says that he is running away to where his creations will be appreciated. Throwing down a smoke bomb, Billy disappears. Driving through the city, Henrietta concludes her story, stating that, ironically, Billy moved to a very science-adverse town named Howling Hollow, as described in the book Mary Rawlins' Travel Guide: Cities That You Must Absolutely, Positively, Stay Out of to Avoid Getting Eaten Alive. The film ends with her new assistant, Torgo, scaring her as a prank. Production History The idea for this film came from a dream that Daniel Bermudez had in 2002 after briefing watching a nasty hamster, also named Black Bear, for some friends. The dream centered around the hamster growing to fifty feet tall and going on a rampage. Eventual director Andrew Bermudez liked the idea so much that he started working on a film. However, the formation of Mustache Maniacs Film Co. put the film on indefinite hold. On July 10, 2013, as part of the official announcement for "Ten Years of Going Crazy!," Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster was announced as a reboot of the never-made film and that it would pay homage to horror B-movies. At the time of the announcement, it was scheduled for a October 2014 release, but as the anticipated release time approached, it became clear that the film would not be ready in time. Because of this, the film was pushed off to January 16, 2015. When Project U was first announced on February 21, 2014, it was also announced that this film would be part of the beginning of that said promotion. While it was going to be the first film in Project U, it eventually became the third film as the film was pushed off. Audience Reception Reactions to this film have been lukewarm, as many fans have stated that film is pretty mediocre. Eventually, the film became forgotten, instead being overshadowed by the immensely popular The Kingfisher. Characters * Dr. Henrietta William (Teresa Bermudez) * Billy Lugosi (Andrew Bermudez) * Dr. Jim Carew (Andrew Bermudez) * Black Bear (n/a) * Officer Walter Parker (Max Edmeier) * Captain Bill Stewart (Andrew Bermudez) * Nana (Teresa Bermudez) * Panicking Woman (Cathy Hoxie) * Torgo (Andrew Bermudez) Locations The following locations appear in Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster * LEGO City * Bradford Rant Institute of Cosmic Kinesis * Billy Lugosi's House * Nana's Martial Arts and Crafts Credits * Andrew Bermudez - Director; Producer; Writer; Animator; Voice Actor; Editor * Daniel Bermudez - Inspiration * Teresa Bermudez - Adviser; Voice Actor * Cathy Hoxie - Voice Actor * Max Edmeier - Voice Actor Tropes WARNING: This section contains spoilers. If you do not want to find out what happens, skip to the next section. Attack of the Fifty-Foot Hamster contains examples of the following tropes. * Animal Testing: 'Billy tests his life-giving formula on a hamster. * 'Attack of the Fifty-Foot Whatever: The premise of the film, basically. * Badass Bystander: The character of Nana. She has no reason to attack Black Bear, but she does so anyway. * Big Eater: Black Bear eats everything from a hot dog stand and tables to entire cars and even Walter Parker! * Canon Welding: While the cinematic universe came to be in 2013, this film includes characters from Forest of Fear, Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients, A Friend of the Police, and Space Attack. This is the first time that characters from disparate films were seen together. * Chekhov's Boomerang: There are none within this film itself, but Nana's martial arts skills and Billy Lugosi's experiments to bring the dead back to life have a strong bearing on future events in other films. * Continuity Nod: This film has a few, as it was intended to be the first film in Project U. ** Dr. Jim Carew from Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients briefly appears to deliver Black Bear to the Bradford Rant Institute, which in-universe was a plot by the Illuminati to throw off the institute. ** After the battle, the Panicking Woman wonders how Nana could tackle alien invaders. She does this in the film Space Attack. ** Captain Bill Stewart is credited as an officer, as this film takes place before he became a police captain. ** The end of the film features Torgo as Henrietta's new assistant, as he runs away from Howling Hollow at the end of Forest of Fear. * Creating Life: Billy Lugosi's life goal is to do this. He succeeds, but with dire consequences. * Creating Life Is Bad: Black Bear, upon growing, goes on a rampage. * Everyone Meets Everyone: This is the first film where characters from disparate films are seen on-screen together. They are, in order of appearance, Billy Lugosi (Forest of Fear), Dr. Jim Carew (Johnny Thunder and the Wisdom of the Ancients), Captain Bill Stewart (A Friend of the Police), Nana (Space Attack), and Torgo (Forest of Fear). As time goes on, more characters will be seen together. * Fantastic Fighting Style: Nana fights with almost impossible grace that is not seen in either Nana or Space Attack, such as power jumping, using revolving doors to propel herself into the air, and breaking Black Bear's neck. * For Science!: What the institute does is never stated in this film, though it is addressed in future Project U films. Billy, however, invokes this as his reason for reanimating the dead. * Mad Scientist: The character of Billy Lugosi. * Mad Scientist Laboratory: This is where Billy resurrects Black Bear. It's located in his house's attic and is filled with various pieces of junk and other items in storage. * Make My Monster Grow: Billy's experiment does this to Black Bear. * Science Hero: The character of Dr. Henrietta William. * Screamer Prank: Torgo pulls one of these on Dr. Henrietta William right at the end of the film. * Shout-Out: This film is inspired by 1950's drive-in B-movies, but the line "Why do you dare tamper in God's domain?" is a reference to the Ed Wood film Bride of the Monster. Also, Billy's attic contains a skateboard from LEGO's Island Xtreme Stunts line of toys. * Smoke Out: Billy Lugosi uses a smoke bomb to escape. * The Stinger: After the end credits, Nana pops out of her martial arts school to shout "Chop Suey!" This was done mainly because voice actor Teresa Bermudez was playing around in her voice recording session as Nana and included that bit of dialogue at the end of a take. The stinger was added to give the dialogue a place in the film. * They Called Me Mad!: This is Billy's reasoning for quitting from the Bradford Rant Institute at the end of the film. * The Verse: This film hammers in the idea that nearly all of Mustache Maniacs Film Co.'s content exists in the same universe. * Whole Episode Flashback: Almost the entire film is a flashback as Henrietta tells the story of how Black Bear went on a rampage and Billy Lugosi left the institute. Trivia * This is film is billed as being loosely inspired by true events. * The film was originally going to completely embrace its homage to B-movies, making the creation of giant Black Bear a complete accident. However, when Project U was conceived, the film was rewritten to graft the canon together. * The Black Bear animation puppet has cloth skin with shopping bags to act as flesh. A Technic-based skeleton gives the puppet its form and shape. * Originally, Nana's voice was going to be entirely comprised of sound effects (as it is in Nana). However, to give Nana's reaction sounds some personality, Teresa Bermudez voiced the character. Category:2015 Category:Animation Category:Movies Category:Project U Category:Award-Winning Film